If you LOVED last night’s Nicki Minaj/Mariah Carey catfight, you’re in luck! FOX reality honcho, Mike Darnell, tells Entertainment Weekly that tensions between the two divas INTENSIFY tonight during the Chicago audition episode: Via Entertainment Weekly
“People said the passion between the two girls was invented,” Fox’s reality chief Mike Darnell tells EW. “It’s obviously real. That’s an interesting dynamite that we haven’t seen on one of these [singing competition] shows before.” And the sparring won’t be confined to Carey vs. Minaj. The panel drama “ramps up” for all the judges, he says. “All I can say is that tonight things get even more interesting.”
Darnell calls tonight’s audition with stuttering contestant, Lazaro Arbos, American Idol’s “Susan Boyle moment.” Hm.
When the Idol auditions hit Charlotte next week, Darnell would not reveal whether portions of the profanity-laced leaked tape of the Nicki/Mariah blowout will be used on the show, only that viewers should expect a “very interesting” episode.
As far as Idol’s double digit ratings dip compared to last season’s premiere? Darnell is “relieved.”
“The numbers were exactly our expectations,” he says. “Everything [on broadcast] is down; it could have been worse. It’s still standing very tall considering the competitiveness.”
There’s a new dynamic on our panel that people seem to really like … not to mention we got some really good talent coming. I think we’re going to cut the [ratings] deficit over time.”
“The needle is not moved by the name of the judge but how they perform on the show,” Darnell concludes. “And these guys are performing incredible. Some years you don’t have anything to talk about it. Sometimes you have a lot of word of mouth and I think that’s what’s going on. You can feel it. There’s a lot of buzz in the air.”
